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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232886">The Souls That Won't Die</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicwriter87/pseuds/epicwriter87'>epicwriter87</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gunslinger Girl, Soul Eater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe-No COVID 19, Blood and Gore, Crossover, F/M, Henrietta Can Use Soul Perception, Henrietta Remembers Her Past, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Language, Maka Is Hot Now, Male Crona (Soul Eater), Romance, Sexual Content, Triela Remembers her past, characters are Grown Up, present day</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:35:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232886</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicwriter87/pseuds/epicwriter87</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Henrietta and Triela are the last remaining members of a secret agency that trains young girls to be assassins. After fleeing to America, they hope to start life over and put their pasts behind them. Life has other plans for them. The two women witness a city falling to pieces at an alarming rate. They soon find that they're not the only outsiders watching the disturbing event take place. Crona, Franken Stein, Soul Eater Evans, and Maka Albarn of the DWMA from Death City were sent to investigate rumors of a possible kishin resurrection. The two teams unite to stand against a threat never witnessed before. (No, Sid doesn't count)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Crona (Soul Eater)/Henrietta (Gunslinger Girl), Franken Stein (Soul Eater)/Triela (Gunslinger Girl), Maka Albarn/Soul Eater Evans</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Souls That Won't Die</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/HotTopic97/gifts">HotTopic97</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>*This is my third attempt now at the epic crossover I wanted to see. I tried to do this three years ago with Souls Lost and Lives Cost, but depression shut me down. I let a fan down, and for that, I'm sorry. My original work was orphaned and I regret that because it had potential.<br/>*To anyone who has been following my story; my plot fell apart (Which was my second attempt) and I'm revising the whole story now. Know this though: I'm not giving up again; one way or another, I will make this work.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Henrietta and Triela Move to a small city on the northern east coast of the United States. They feel out of place but do their best to fit in. The quiet lives they expected to live are quickly tossed aside upon the arrival of crazed soldiers. When they threaten the safety of the public, unlikely heroes unite to combat the threat.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 1: The Survivors: The Worst Is Yet To Come?</p><p>Belfast, Maine, United States, Monday, February 8, 2021, 10:30 AM</p><p>-</p><p>        Two women were walking down a sidewalk into downtown Belfast, Maine. On occasion, they would get odd looks from other people. This wasn't surprising though, considering that neither woman had lived in the United States for more than a month. One was fairly short and the other was a bit taller, but both were fit and attractive.</p><p>        The two young women were the last surviving members of a secret operation that was known as the Social Welfare Agency. On the surface, they appeared to be an organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured children. Their true purpose; they turned young girls into cybernetic assassins. The operation had lost its funding and shut down, but not before the Agency discovered the means to prolong the lifespans of the girls.</p><p>        New drugs were created to counteract the more negative effects of what they called 'conditioning'. The Agency insisted that the damage the drugs did couldn't be reversed, but after the death of Angelica, the girls' handlers made a final stand. Jean was the hardest to convince, but in they end they were agreed. They informed the Agency that if they were to continue training children to be assassins, they refused to view them as dogs to be replaced every few years and that even dogs received better treatment than their cyborgs did. They further stated that there was no logic in saving humanity from terrorist threats if it meant treating the children as inferior beings, thereby condemning them to the very deaths they had been saved from.</p><p>        The handlers were good men and treated their cyborg children fairly, but were discouraged from forming emotional bonds with them. Even with the brainwashing the children had endured, they knew, instinctively, that their lives were empty. They had each other when they needed to be cheered up, but the lack of family slowly ate away at their happiness. The girls soldiered on though, taking every mission they were given and succeeding every time.</p><p>        After two long years though, only Henrietta and Triela survived the brutality of the terrorist war. As irony would have it, the Agency had only managed to create enough drugs for two of the girls before their funding had been cut off. They were told that they probably wouldn't make it past forty, but the alternative had been eighteen and even that wasn't certain, so the girls were grateful to have their lifespans doubled.</p><p>        There had been one unfortunate side effect, however. The memories of their childhood that the Agency had been so desperate to erase slowly began to resurface. Henrietta often experienced nightmares of the night her family was killed. Triela still had nightmares of her last hours in Amsterdam. It was probably for the best that the Social Welfare Agency was shut down, as both women began to struggle with separating their personal lives from their professional lives during their late teenage years.</p><p>        Henrietta was twenty-one now. She hadn't received much of a growth spurt at five foot four, one hundred and eighteen pounds. She stuck with the grey dress shirt, white blouse, grey skirt, tights, white stockings, and black dress shoes.</p><p>        Triela was twenty-six and adventurous. She was five foot ten and weighed nearly one hundred and fifty pounds. She wore a black trench coat, black vest, a white dress shirt, an orange tie, blue dress pants, and black boots.</p><p>"Well, that was certainly an interesting game last night, wasn't it, Triela?" A short woman asked.</p><p>"It was just a bunch of men trying to kill each other, Henrietta. It was the most uncivilized thing I've ever seen." A taller woman replied.</p><p>"I suppose; it was a bit one-sided , wasn't it?" Henrietta murmured.</p><p>"You're right about that." Triela replied.</p><p>"Why are we going to the library again?"</p><p>"We need to know more about America if we want to pass as citizens here, Henrietta."</p><p>"Oh." Henrietta paused for a moment before asking, "Is it wrong to be different?"</p><p>"It's not wrong, but it would be nice if we could go somewhere and not have everyone staring at us."</p><p>        The trip to the library was uneventful. The library was a combination of two brick buildings connected by walls of glass to either side. The building was three stories high. They stepped inside and quietly went through the geographical and linguistics sections. After a few hours of reading, they decided to leave the library. Once outside, conversation resumed again.</p><p>Page 2</p><p>"So, do you feel anymore American than you did three hours ago?" Henrietta asked.</p><p>"No." Triela sighed.</p><p>"Give it time, Triela. We'll learn as we go. I don't see any reason why we should have to treat this like some kind of exam."</p><p>"Don't you want to have fun though, Henrietta? Don't you want to get passed the 'fitting in' part and just enjoy life?"</p><p>"Then let's skip 'fitting in' and just have fun. Let's just be ourselves and to hell with what everyone thinks!"</p><p>"Are you serious?" Triela asked, surprised at the shorter woman's suggestion.</p><p>        Henrietta nodded with a fierce expression on her face.</p><p>"This isn't like you at all, Henrietta. I'm impressed." Triela said with a chuckle.</p><p>"Good; I got tired of coming off as weak when I'm around people."</p><p>"You're like a sister to me, Henrietta. Weak isn't a word I would use to describe you." Triela smiled.</p><p>"Oh, okay." Henrietta chuckled nervously.</p><p>"Now all we need to do is make a friend."</p><p>"We might be able to help you girls there." A voice said from behind them.</p><p>        They turned around to see a group of eight men staring at them. The military uniforms made it clear that they were soldiers. Henrietta flinched suddenly. As Triela took a closer look at them, she realized that the offer wasn't of genuine friendship; the smiles on their faces told her that they expected something far less innocent.</p><p>"I'm sorry to disappoint you, guys, but we're not interested in serious relationships at the moment." Triela said calmly.</p><p>"Really? You said you wanted friends; is that not a serious relationship?" One of the soldiers grinned.</p><p>"Friends don't need to share beds with each other, though." Triela countered.</p><p>"Come on, babe, we're just talking about a one and done kind of deal." Another soldier grinned.</p><p>"We're not interested, <em>h</em><em>oney</em>."</p><p>"I don't like where this is going, civilian. You will address us as 'sir' from this moment forward." The tallest one glared as he stepped forward.</p><p>"As you wish, sir. We also have the right to refuse your advances and you are obligated to respect such refusal, sir."</p><p>"We're trained soldiers, civilian. If you don't want anyone to get hurt, you'll do as your told." The tall man said, unfastening his holster.</p><p>"That's probably not a good idea." Henrietta stammered nervously.</p><p>"Oh, so the midget can talk! That's cute!" Another soldier snickered.</p><p>"The midget can also kick your ass, sir." Triela retorted.</p><p>        One of the soldiers lunged at Triela. Triela took a step back and brought her knee up into the soldier's stomach. She followed up with an uppercut as he doubled over, flipping him onto his back as he was thrown backwards.</p><p>        The tall one drew his gun, but Henrietta moved in a blur of motion, kicking the gun out of his hand. She swept low and kicked his feet out from under him. She wrapped her hands around his throat as he fell to the ground. His eyes were wide with shock as he stared into the small woman's eyes.</p><p>"We won't be scared by the likes of you, <em>sir</em>. If you threaten to attack us again, I won't hesitate to kill you next time." Henrietta glared before tossing the man back at his fellow soldiers.</p><p>Page 3</p><p>        The women turned to walk away as bystanders began to crowd the sidewalk. The tall soldier slowly got to his feet and picked his gun up off of the ground. He aimed carelessly at Henrietta and pulled the trigger without thinking. The man had a grin on his face that faded instantly; the bullet never reached its intended target.</p><p>        Henrietta turned suddenly. She saw a tall, thin person in a black dress robe standing in front of her with their arms spread out. She was surprised to hear a masculine voice issue from the person, in spite of the long purple hair that dropped below the shoulders.</p><p>"That wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. But go figure; my blood <em>is</em> black, you know?"</p><p>"And who do you have to thank for that?" A distorted voice called out.</p><p>"You, Ragnarok." The man in the dress robe sighed.</p><p>"Who the hell are you talking to and why the hell aren't you bleeding out, kid?" The leader demanded, his gun hand shaking.</p><p>"I'm not bleeding out because my blood is black; weren't you paying attention, sir? As for who I'm talking to? Ragnarok, reveal yourself."</p><p>        A dark shape began to force itself out of the man's back. The shape resembled an eight foot tall genie at first, but the figure turned to face Henrietta and was revealed to be far more sinister. The figure was completely black with white gloved hands, silver spiked wrist cuffs, long muscular arms, tall black spikes protruding from the shoulders, thin silver spikes protruding from either side of the neck, a large white 'X' across the face, and two ball-like eyes with a smaller 'x' at the centers located between the lines of the larger 'X'. It had no lips or mouth to speak of, but the face opened to reveal a set of teeth.</p><p>"Say hello, Ragnarok." The thin man said, his voice empty of emotion.</p><p>"Hello, tasty souls. I'm going to eat you now." The genie grinned.</p><p>"Ragnarok, how many times do we have to tell you?! You can't eat human souls!" A woman shouted from behind Henrietta.</p><p>        The twenty-three year old woman had dark sandy brown hair with shoulder length pigtails and messy bangs, emerald eyes, and fair skin. Henrietta approximated her at five foot nine and one hundred and forty pounds. She wore a black trench coat, white blouse, striped tie, red plaid skirt, and black boots.</p><p>        There were two men standing next to her, one about her age and the other significantly older.</p><p>        The young man had short wild silver hair, red eyes, and fair skin. He stood at five foot eight, weighed one hundred and fifty-five pounds, and was twenty-four years old. He wore a white sweatband, yellow and black jacket, red jeans, and yellow and white sneakers.</p><p>        The older man had short gray hair, dark blue eyes under a pair of glasses, and lightly tanned skin. He was forty-three years old, six feet four inches tall, and weighed one hundred and ninety-one pounds. He wore a white stitched lab coat, a gray turtleneck, gray dress pants, and gray and black dress shoes. There was some kind of screw that pierced his skull through both sides that he occasionally turned, producing a clicking noise.</p><p>        The man with the genie turned to face the others.</p><p>        The other young man had pink unkempt hair, lavender purple eyes, and pale white skin. At twenty-five years old, he was tall and sickly thin. He wore a long black dress robe that went down to his ankles and a pair of black slipper like shoes. For many years, his gender had remained a mystery to everyone.</p><p>"You sure it's wise to turn your back on them, Crona?" Ragnarok asked while looking over his shoulder.</p><p>"As long as you keep my blood hardened, they can't hurt me." The man replied with a chuckle.</p><p>"Well, what if I don't want to?" The genie retorted with a grin.</p><p>"Then we both die. Is that what you want?"</p><p>"Hell no! You're not as much fun since your Soul wavelength overpowered mine, you know. I feel like you stole some of my soul!" Ragnarok accused.</p><p>Page 4</p><p>"I hate to cut in, but we do have eight men induced with Madness and armed with guns." The older man pointed out.</p><p>"Then do something about it, Screwhead!" The genie growled.</p><p>"I suppose I'm game." The older man shrugged.</p><p>        With a flash of speed, the man charged the soldiers. He ducked, dodged, and weaved as they brought their guns up. Before a single shot was fired, all eight men were on the ground unconscious. He slowly walked back to stand next to the woman who had shouted at the genie.</p><p>"What the hell?! I thought you were going to kill them!"</p><p>"Ragnarok, what did we just get down telling you? Not cool, man, not cool." The other young man asked.</p><p>"Shut up! You wouldn't know cool if it kicked you in your undersized balls!" Ragnarok shouted.</p><p>"Who are you people?" Triela finally spoke up.</p><p>"As we just saved you, perhaps you should be introducing yourselves first." The man in the yellow jacket countered.</p><p>"I'm Henrietta."</p><p>"I'm Triela."</p><p>"And both of you are cyborg assassins, at an educated guess." The older man said with a stare.</p><p>"That about sums us up." Henrietta stammered with a nod.</p><p>"I believe it's your turn." Triela said, somewhat impatient.</p><p>"So it is. I'm Doctor Franken Stein." The older man said with a bow.</p><p>"I'm Crona and this is my weapon partner, Ragnarok." The thin man chuckled nervously.</p><p>"Soul Evans." The man in the yellow jacket nodded.</p><p>"I'm Maka Albarn. The four of us protect the world from supernatural threats. Soul is my weapon partner." The woman said calmly.</p><p>"What do you two mean by weapon partners?" Henrietta asked.</p><p>"It would be wise to find a safe place to do this. I suggest the church across the street." Franken Stein pointed out as more people approached them.</p><p>        Henrietta, Triela, and the other four people crossed the road and found that the doors to the church were unlocked. They were thankful that no one followed inside. They climbed the stairs to their right and entered the main room, passing the pews and standing on the red carpeted stage between two podiums.</p><p>"We should be safe here for a while. Shall we go ahead with the demonstration?" Maka asked.</p><p>        Franken Stein nodded.</p><p>"Soul?" Maka asked with her hand outstretched.</p><p>"Right."</p><p>        Soul quickly transformed into a long metal pole with a long curved blade welded to the side. Maka was holding an impressively large scythe in both hands. Ragnarok disappeared; a large sword resembling a claymore slowly formed in Crona's right hand.</p><p>"Some people call us Soul Eaters, but in truth, only our weapons eat souls. Soul and Ragnarok eat the souls of witches, kishins, and corrupted humans who can't be saved." Maka explained.</p><p>"And you've found those souls here?" Henrietta asked.</p><p>Page 5</p><p>        Maka and Franken Stein had frowns on their faces. Crona was chuckling nervously with a crazed smile. Soul and Ragnarok transformed into their normal forms before joining the conversation.</p><p>"Not exactly. We're tracking the Madness wavelength we detected in Death City, Nevada." Soul answered.</p><p>"What is this 'Madness wavelength'?" Triela asked.</p><p>"Normally it's a wavelength created by an extremely powerful being, such as Kishins. However, we haven't detected the soul of any one with the Madness wavelength so far." Maka answered.</p><p>"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this Madness wavelength is artificial." Franken Stein suggested.</p><p>"Who could have that kind of knowledge though? How do you artificially create a soul wavelength?" Soul asked.</p><p>"What's a soul wavelength?" Henrietta asked.</p><p>"It's similar to the magic used by witches." Franken Stein answered.</p><p>"Magic is real?" Henrietta asked suddenly.</p><p>"It is, but not everyone can use it." Crona answered softly.</p><p>"The abilities we possess with and without our weapons aren't magic per se, but are very similar to magic and are used to counter the dangers of magic." Stein explained.</p><p>"Magic is dangerous?"</p><p>"I have a better question. What does this Madness wavelength do?" Triela asked.</p><p>"Everyone possesses at least a tiny fraction of madness in some form or another. It could be your craving for that last slice of apple pie, jealousy regarding your best friend's boyfriend, or the annoyance of not being tall enough to ride a roller coaster by yourself. At its core, madness is a natural feeling that everyone experiences in some form or another. However," Stein paused to narrow his eyes before continuing, "If that same madness is left unchecked, your madness will slowly consume you until it dictates your every action."</p><p>"I follow so far." Triela nodded.</p><p>"Now imagine that a voice inside your head is urging you to give into your madness right now. You ignore it at first, but it slowly becomes louder until you hear it screaming during your every waking moment. It invades your dreams and tries to show you how much better off you'll be if you just give in to the madness. That's the Madness wavelength." Crona chuckled nervously with a creepy grin.</p><p>"We refer to it as the Madness, generally." Maka said.</p><p>"That's insane!"</p><p>"No, actually <em>you</em> become insane if the Madness overwhelms you." Soul pointed out.</p><p>"Why do I get the feeling that all of you went mad at some point?" Henrietta asked suddenly.</p><p>        There was a long, awkward silence before Maka replied uncomfortably, "Because you're right."</p><p>"And the soldiers we ran into were affected by the Madness wavelength?" Triela asked.</p><p>"Without a doubt. Soldiers hitting on women happens all the time and abusing their power to get what they want isn't unheard of, but shooting at another person in public? Only the Madness could do that." Soul answered adamantly.</p><p>"There are more soldiers entering the city. Their souls are just as distorted as the first group we came across and only getting worse." Stein said with narrowed eyes.</p><p>Page 6</p><p>"What happens to the soldiers as their souls deteriorate?" Triela asked.</p><p>"They'll become dangerous and unpredictable. Anything could happen." Stein answered.</p><p>"What about the civilians? Are they being affected by the Madness wavelength?" Henrietta asked.</p><p>"Yes, but at a much lower level, for now." Maka answered.</p><p>"What do you mean for now? Is the Madness wavelength intensifying?" Triela asked suspiciously.</p><p>"Not as a whole, no. Within each soul, however, the Madness wavelength is feeding on the individual's Madness, further destabilizing the soul until the person drowns in their Madness." Stein answered with a scowl.</p><p>"Then shouldn't we stop talking and start killing?!" Ragnarok exclaimed.</p><p>"How many times do we have to tell you, we're not eating human souls!" Crona shouted.</p><p>"Ragnarok is on the right track though. We're obligated to save as many lives as we can." Soul pointed out.</p><p>"Really?" Maka asked.</p><p>"Yes. I can sense souls that remain unaffected by the Madness wavelength. We need to get them to safe shelter." Stein said with a nod.</p><p>"I'm not sure how much we'll be able to help you; as trained assassins, our first instinct is to kill." Henrietta stammered.</p><p>"Surely you've been trained as escorts? Protect the people we assign to you and we'll take care of the rest." Stein assured the woman.</p><p>"Okay." Henrietta nodded nervously.</p><p>        The new group of allies left the church to reenter a now chaotic city. The sounds of panic and laughter filled the air. In the distance, a group of civilians were running towards them, followed closely by a group of soldiers. The sound of gunfire reached the ears of Henrietta and Triela instantly as the looked up the inclined streets.</p><p>"Those people ahead of us have pure souls! We need to pull them out!" Maka said with urgency.</p><p>        Henrietta and Triela were the first to reach the group of six. Stein ran ahead to take on the soldiers. Ten seconds later, Maka, Soul, and Crona caught up to the rest of them. Soul and Ragnarok went back to their weapon forms to provide backup.</p><p>UNDER REVISION/INCOMPLETE</p>
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